Friday Night Ouch

Walnut High's #88 Aubrey Coleman turns Rowland High's #3 Michael Ball's head backward with a facemask (snapping his collarbone) during Friday night's varsity football game between the Walnut Mustangs and the Rowland Raiders in Walnut. Oct. 16, 2009. SGVN Staff Photographer/Eric Reed

Breaking News: Rowland's all-everything Michael Ball out six weeks with a broken collarbone
By Fred Robledo on October 19, 2009

Rowland coach Craig Snyder informed us this morning that junior quarterback Michael Ball is out at least six weeks with a broken collarbone suffered in Friday's 27-7 victory over Walnut. Ball helped lead the Raiders to a perfect 6-0 record and the No. 1 ranking in the Southeast Division. Walnut's Aubrey Coleman, shown in this picture below, almost spun Ball's head around by the facemask and was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and later in the game drew another unsportsmanlike call, though was never ejected from the game. "It was a blatant cheap shot," Snyder said. "He (Coleman) tackled all night going for the head. When you watch him tackle, his arms are always going above the pads. I know that (Walnut coach) Mike O'Shields doesn't teach that, he's a great coach, but that kid should have been thrown out of the game. For a 15-yard penalty we lose one of the best players in the Valley for probably the whole season, it's heartbreaking. Michael's obviously crushed, he was having a great season and it's over in the snap of a finger."
More: Walnut coach Mike O'Shields phoned Snyder on Monday to offer his condolences for Ball's injuries, and also felt that Coleman, who is 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, did not intentionally try and hurt Ball. "It was an obvious facemask and it's tragic when something like this happens because Michael's a great kid and he's having a great year," O'Shieds said. "Because Aubrey's so big, he struggles getting low on anything. I don't think there was any malice or intent on hurting Michael on Aubrey's part. I understand Craig's frustration, but If I thought any of our players were out to intentionally hurt someone, I would have handled it. That player won't be in the game."

Fred's Blog - http://www.insidesocal.com/tribpreps/2009/10/breaking-news-r-1.html


Entire photo gallery: http://sgvtribune.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=866971&CategoryID=27239

Who Needs A Gym?

Its not the norm, although my job entails being out much of the day, but today was an exercise day. Two walking assignments kept me on my toes. The AIDS Walk L.A. was to start with about 30,000 good friends and then over to Pasadena for a "CropWalk" church fighting hunger walk. There is no lack of causes to march for out there... I gotta get one of those pedometers!
A Barbie display in a shop window with the reflection of real walkers during The 25 Annual AIDS Walk LA in West Los Angeles, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009. SGVN Staff Photographer/Eric Reed

Gallery of Aids Walk - http://sgvtribune.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=868170&CategoryID=27239



Saul Valasquez, 12, of Pasadena caries jugs of water representing the water many in the world people have to walk for daily, as apart of The First Baptist Church's Crop Walk on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009. Hundreds of participants walked a 5-K thru Downtown Pasadena to raise money and awareness to fight hunger. (SGVN Staff Photographer/ Eric Reed

SGVN Gallery: http://sgvtribune.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=868170&CategoryID=27239&ListSubAlbums=0

Were still walking. Monday.

Supporters of health care reform stand at the Pasadena City Hall to listen to speakers while holding signs as The San Gabriel Valley Interfaith Coalition for Health Insurance Reform held a walking vigil on Colorado Blvd. starting at the Pasadena City Hall, Monday, Oct. 18, 2009.


http://sgvtribune.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=868955&CategoryID=27239

UCLA vs Kansas State Football

UCLA vs Kansas State Football at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.




http://sgvtribune.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=841008&CategoryID=27239&ListSubAlbums=0

Trial By Fire

The first two weeks of re-entering the workforce as a Staff Photographer has been, to say the least, a firestorm and just in time. Getting used to a new area for assignments is one thing but for spot news is another. This area is buzzing with breaking news as a regular occurrence and like from my previous entry, getting anywhere in a hurry is an impossibility. Kicking off week two at the Trib broke out with a Red Flag Warning and within minutes it was off. A news photographer takes images along Highway 2 near Upper Big Tujunga road during The Station Fire as it burns near Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forest, Aug. 31.
A Hot Shot Crew member Patrick Callahan, right, and Collin Shafer, from the Plumas National Forest watches as The Station Fire burns above Altadena in the Angeles National Forrest, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009. A bulldozer cuts away brush from The Station Fire as it burns above Altadena in the Angeles National Forest, Aug. 30.

The Morris Fire on Highway 39 above Asuza followed in tandem with the Station Fire along California Highway 2 above La Canada Flintridge. One aspect of wildfire photography that I am used to but not to this degree is the Media/Law Enforcement interface... not cool. With the increased amount of media in the Los Angeles area the tensions between the two groups in a heated situation boils over quickly. The 107 degree temps were not helping this or the fire-fighting effort.

Smoke fills the air above the Mt. Wilson 100 inch observatory as the Station Fire burns up Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forrest, Aug. 31. Mt. Wilson was of special concern because of the millions of dollars in communications equipment and the services it provides to the Los Angeles area along with the historic observatory.


Glendale Battalion Chiefs watch a fire-fighting air tanker make a drop as The Station Fire approaches neighborhoods in the Altadena area, Saturday, Aug. 29.

I have said before that I have been shooting wildfire for more than 20 years. These fires are proving to have added challenges in terrain and access. I find creating the images for this season thus far to be about working incredibly hard just to get something publishable (in my opinion) and not about the art and ballet of fire and firefighter. I think we are far from over as of writing this. The Station fire still rages at 130,000 acres (that is almost 1/3 of the entire Angeles National Forest) and its not even Santa Ana Wind season yet.


Dalton Hot Shot crew member rests as The Station Fire burns above on Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forest, Monday, Aug. 31, 2009. All Photos San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group/Eric Reed/Staff Photographer)

A Mighty Dense and New Place to Play

dense |dens|
adjective
closely compacted in substance : dense volcanic rock | swirling, dense smoke.
• having the constituent parts crowded closely together : an estuary dense with marine life.
• figurative (of a text) hard to understand because of complexity of ideas.
• informal (of a person) stupid.

Some good news. I have been hired as a staff photographer once again. After seven months of 'furlough' (laid off) from the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, I have been re-hired back to LANG to lend my full-time photojournalistic skills to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, The Pasadena Star-News and the Whittier Daily News (The San Gabriel Valley News Group). After a few days of intensive self-imposed training including: studying the coverage area on the map (that area will take about a year for me to get the lay of) finding, organizing, typing in and programing the emergency frequency codes in the scanner and most importantly, learning the ropes of my new gear. After shooting Nikon gear for 20 years I was handed Canon gear. A bit of a learning curve for the level I need to shoot at right out of the gate.
This area is dense. The basic footprint of our coverage is the Los Angeles County area from Pasadena to La Verne to Diamond Bar to Cerritos. I am finding that it takes time and patients to get from A to B in constant road-rage, L.A. traffic using a lot of surface streets.


Union Pacific Rail Road workers clear the debris of a Penski rental truck after it was struck by a freight train at Nogales St. and E. Railroad St. in the City of Industry, Friday. Aug. 21, 2009. SGVN/Staff photo by Eric Reed
Muslims gather for afternoon prayer to mark the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan at the Islamic Learning and Practicing Center in West Covina, Friday. Aug. 21, 2009. SGVN/Staff photo by Eric Reed

The Summer of Holga

Student Work:

Holga images from Kimberly Albright's "Untitled Architecture" series.



The Summer Photography 101 course at Victor Valley College proved to be quite a lot of fun and a good learning experience for all including the instructor, yours truly. The Holga is a piece of crap camera with a plastic lens and light leaks galore. With that in mind it makes truly amazing images that have that old photographic aesthetic and levels the playing field of those using it. Because it has no relevant settings it has a 'point n shoot' nature so a high degree of technical ability is not required, just your creativity and in the case of this class the learned ability to hand develop black and white 120mm or 2 1/4 film. I enjoyed the opportunity to develop my Holga images along side the students to see the difference in cameras (each one is unique) and trouble shoot the assignment. One thing is for sure, enthusiasm and a true love of photography makes a huge difference in the learning process for everyone not just regurgitating facts and numbers. Shoot on!


Holga image from Ashley Wilkins' "Working Lives" series.

Holga image from Sara Taylor's "Lost Hearts" series.

Holga image from Johnny Martinez's "Vintage Wheels" series.

Holga images from Crystal Carroll's "Little Helga" series.

And to add one of mine. I had to take this to a new level for me and shot 35mm color film run through the Holga.

Freelancing New Politics

The game of freelancing has its ups and downs. I often find myself happy to shoot whatever, whereas as a staffer I would complain about some assignments. Don't get me wrong there are some things I am very happy not to be shooting anymore, like a lot of spot news and courtroom. So like the Obama inauguration day to photograph one of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's town hall style meetings in San Bernardino as part of his campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, seemed to me, to be a treat. At least the Mayor's team did a little decorating to make the photos a little more interesting.